Culture and Society

“Toontown” multiplayer online video game launches in June: The game which has been in trial for months and lets young players collaborate on line in a battle fought with gags rather than bullets is the first unit of what designers plan as a virtual theme park. “We have a very …

You think you heard what the president and Rummy said in recent speeches. The Specious Report, which brought you the phenomenally successful What She Really Said Dixie Chicks parody, sets the record straight on Bush from the USS Abraham Lincoln, and on Rumsfeld re the looting of the Iraqi Museum.

A number of reviewers really like the new Apple Music Service. I wouldn’t know myself, not being an Apple-head, but the huzzahs are not universal: The dismal little online music shop that Steve Jobs opened on Monday has already received its share of lukewarm reviews. One reader, describing the paucity …

Seeking to utterly alienate millions of customers, and enter into a real tech war with enraged geeks, the RIAA is sponsoring research into methods to debilitate file sharer’s computers: The record companies are exploring options on new countermeasures, which some experts say have varying degrees of legality, to deter online …

Having sought billions from four college students who created “mini-Napsters,” the RIAA has settled with each for between $12-17.5K: The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) sued four students separately last month for running services that searched computers connected to their college networks for MP3 song files. The students also …

I still feel pretty left out because I am not an Apple-head, but the rave reviews keep coming in about the new Apple music service. A point I missed in the initial release is that while tracks are $.99 each, most albums in the catalogue are available for $10. The …

Iraq? Afghanistan? No, movie theaters.

FTC says 2/3 of spam fraudulent: Two out of three “spam” e-mail messages contain false information of some sort, according to an analysis of unsolicited e-mail pitches collected by the FTC. Of a random sample of 1,000 spam messages, 44 percent used a false return address to hide the sender’s …

Is it coincidence that a) a judge ruled in favor of Grokster against the RIAA regarding copyright liability on Friday b) Apple announced its new music service Monday c) the RIAA sent out threatening messages to Internet file sharers yesterday? No, it is not: RIAA President Cary Sherman said the …

I though we wre trying to FOSTER tech investment: Venture capitalists didn’t need another reason to avoid high-tech investments – but two major record labels have given them one anyway. Still seeking retribution for Napster’s online file-swapping system, industry giants Universal Music and EMI are trying to break new legal …